B E W 



355 



B E W 



lithic obelisk, which has been the subject of much discussion 

 among antiquarians. It is fourteen feet two inches in 

 height, and its breadth at the bottom is one foot ten inches. 

 It was formerly surmounted by a cross, which is supposed 

 to have been demolished during some ebullition of popular 

 enthusiasm ; but the figure of it has been preserved. The 

 different sides are sculptured in a very curious manner. 

 The north and south sides are divided into compartments, 

 fancifully embellished with various plants and knots ; one 

 of the fillets which divide the compartments on the north 

 side, is occupied with an inscription in one line, and more 

 than one-fourth of the entire surface on the same side is 

 occupied with a chequer, which divides the breadth of the 

 surface into eight squares. The east front is one entire 

 running branch of foliage, flowers, and fruit, ornamented 

 with birds and uncouth animals, in the old Gothic style. 

 The west front, which is the most important, is divided into 

 compartments. The lowermost represents a dignified per- 

 sonage in a long robe, leaning against a pedestal, on which 

 stands a bird, supposed to represent a raven, the royal bird 

 of the Danes. This is concluded to be the person for whom 

 the monument is erected. The whole story of its erection 

 is probably told in the scarcely legible Runic inscription 

 which occupies the compartment above this, and in which 

 Roman and Runic characters are intermingled. No satis- 

 factory information can be derived from this inscription in 

 its present state. The next compartment is occupied by 

 an ecclesiastic, whose head is surrounded by a nimbus, and 

 is conjectured to represent StCuthbert, to whom, according 

 to some accounts, the church was originally dedicated ; the 

 highest compartment contains a representation of the Virgin 

 and infant Jesus. The sculptures on this side seem clearly to 

 denote the Christian origin of the obelisk, and Bishop Ni- 

 cholson, coupling this with the Runic characters of the in- 

 scriptions, inclines to the opinion that it was intended to com- 

 memorate the adoption of the Christian faith by the Danes, 

 who are known to have been settled in this part of the 

 country, and were here the most numerous and least dis- 

 turbed. Mr. Smith, however, (Gentleman's Mag., vol. xii.) 

 is of opinion that it was designed as the sepulchral monument 

 of some Danish king slain in battle ; their change of religion 

 he allows might have been consequent upon the death of the 

 king, and that the monument was designed to commemorate 

 both events. Buchanan relates that in the reign of Donald 

 VI., the Danes having wasted Northumberland, were met 

 and engaged by the united forces of England and Scotland, 

 with such uncertain result, that both sides were equally 

 glad of peace, one condition of which was that the Danes 

 should embrace the Christian faith. As no one considers 

 the obelisk to be more than a thousand years old, and as 

 this event happened about 950 years since, Smith not un- 

 reasonably conjectures that there was some connexion be- 

 tween the obelisk and the event related by Buchanan. He 

 adds, ' that the monument is Danish, appears incontestable 

 from the characters ; Scottish and Pictish monuments 

 having nothing but hieroglyphics, and the Danish both ; 

 and excepting Bridekirk font, it appears to be the only mo- 

 nument of that nation left in Britain.' (Hutchinson's His- 

 tory of the County of Cumberland; Gentleman's Ma- 

 gazine, vol. xiii. ; Gough's Camden; Beauties of England 

 and Walet.) 



BEWDLEY, a borough and market-town of the county 

 of Worcester, in the lower division of Doddingtree Hun- 

 dred, and in the parish of Ribbesford, 1 14 miles N.W. 

 from London, and 13 miles N. by W. from Worcester. The 

 town was formerly within the jurisdiction of the marches of 

 Wales. It was made part of the county of Worcester, by an 

 act of parliament passed 34 and 35 Henry VIII. c. 26. : it 

 had previously been put within the parish of Ribbesford, by 

 a private act in the reign of Henry VI., having till then 

 been extra-parochial. It stands on a declivity overhanging 

 the western bank of the Severn, and from the pleasantness 

 of its situation was called in Latin Bellus locus, and in 

 French Beaulieu, from whence by corruption the present 

 name of Bewdley is derived. In Domesday Book, Bewdley, 

 there called Ribeford, is reckoned among the townships be- 

 longing to Kidderminster, and is said to be in the king's 

 demesne. It was waste in the time of Edward the Con- 

 fessor. In the reign of Edward I. it was a manor belong- 

 ing to the Beauchamp-, the first Norman earls of Warwick ; 

 it afterwards passed to the Mortimers, earls of March, and 

 with the other lands of that earldom was annexed to the 

 crown when Edward, earl of March, became king, under 



the title of Edward IV. In the 12th year of this kingj 

 Bewdley received its first charter of incorporation. After 

 this the town seems to have increased in importance, and 

 in the reign of Henry VIII. we find it thus noticed by 

 Leland : "The towne self is sett on the syde of an hill ; soe 

 comely, a man cannot wish to see a towne better. It riseth 

 from Severne banke by east, upon the hill by west ; soe that 

 a man standing on the hill trans pontem by .cast, may dis- 

 cerne almost every house in the towne, and at the risinge 

 of the sunne from the east, the whole towne glittereth 

 (being all of new building) as it were of gould. By the 

 distance of the parish church (at Ribbesford), I gather that 

 Beaudley is a very new towne, and that of ould time there 

 was but some poore hamlett, .and that upon the building of 

 a bridge there upon Severne, and resort of people unto it, 

 and commodity of the pleasant site, men began to inhabit 

 there ; and because that Ihe plott of it seemed fayre to the 

 lookers, it hath a French name Beaudley, quasi Bellus Lo- 

 cus' 



The hill on the slope of which the town is built is called 

 Ticken Hill, or more properly Ticcen Hill, or Goat's Hill, 

 which name the town itself is said to have borne in the early 

 period of its history. In Leland's time there was a fine ma- 

 nor-house on the top of the hill, which Henry VII. built as a 

 residence for Prince Arthur, and which is said to have been 

 the scene of the festivities attending his marriage with 

 Catharine of Aragon, afterwards queen of Henry VIII. 

 There appears to have been some previous building on 

 the spot. That which Leland saw was/ nearly demolished 

 in the civil wars, but was afterwards rebuilt, and forms a 

 mansion, the commanding prospects from which are much 

 admired. 



Independently of its municipal contentions, there is no> 

 fact of any interest in the subsequent history of Bewdley, 

 except that Charles I. removed hither froin Worcester, in 

 order to keep the Severn between him and the enemy. It 

 does not appear from the corporation books that the town 

 went to any larger expense than half a crown on the occa- 

 sion of this visit. 



The manor of Bewdley remained annexed to the crown 

 through several reigns. In that of James I. it was held by 

 the Prince of Wales. After that it went through several 

 hands, and since the reign of Charles II. has been held by 

 lessees from the crown. 



The borough obtained a charter of incorporation in the 

 third year of James I., by which it was to be governed by a. 

 bailiff and twelve capital burgesses, who were empowered 

 to elect the other corporate officers, as high steward, re- 

 corder, and others of inferior rank. The town was also 

 enabled to send one member to parliament, which it has 

 ever since continued to do. Several accounts state that 

 Bewdley had four annual fairs and two market days pre- 

 viously to this charter. Nash, however, states that Edward 

 IV. granted fairs to be held on the feast days of St. George, 

 St. Ann, and St. Andrew, and a market on Saturday. 

 These are the same that are granted in the charter of 

 James, and which are still in use. The history of the 

 charter is curious. The corporation surrendered it to Charles 

 II. and got a new one from James II., by which the borough 

 was governed for twenty years. But when Queen Anne 

 came to the throne this charter was declared, on account of 

 some informality, to be void, and that of James I. was con- 

 firmed. The different charters being respectively upheld 

 by contending parties in the borough, a double return of 

 officers was the consequence ; nor was the matter termi- 

 nated without a long and expensive lawsuit, by which the 

 old charter was confirmed. During the first thirty years of 

 the present century the greatest number of electors polled 

 at the election of a representative in Parliament did not 

 exceed twenty-four, the bailiff and burgesses being the only 

 electors ; by the Reform Bill the limits of the borough were 

 greatly enlarged for parliamentary purposes so as to include 

 484 qualifying tenements, of which the town alone contains 

 193. The population of the parliamentary borough is be- 

 tween 7000 and 8000 ; that of Bewdley proper was, in 1831, 

 3908, of whom 2021 were females. There is, however, on 

 the other side of the Severn, connected with Bewdley by a 

 bridge, the suburb of Wribbenhall, which, although not in- 

 cluded in the municipal limits, appears to form part of the 

 town. Its population is no where stated separately from 

 that of the parish to which it belongs ; but it contains thirty 

 five qualifying houses, and is thus noticed in the Boundary 

 Reports ' This suburb contains several good houses, also 



2 Z 2 



